Wicklow GAA are behind the eight ball now but they only have themselves to blame.
Rathnew and St Patrick’s couldn’t be separated in their Wicklow SFC final in Aughrim on Sunday afternoon. It looked as if the country men of Rathnew were about to score their seventh title in ten years, only for St Pat’s full back Shane Murley to leave his station right at the death to score a fisted point to keep the town team alive.
That levelled the scores at 1-10 to 0-13 and after referee Noel Kinsella blew the final whistle, it soon emerged that the game would be going to a replay rather than extra-time.
It doesn’t seem to have been the wisest decision. There are a number of dual players in Wicklow and there are a number of dual players on the Rathnew and St Patrick’s teams.
According to our sources, five Rathnew players will be a part of the Glenealy team who take on Carnew in the County senior hurling final next weekend, while St Pat’s also have one dual player caught up next Sunday for the hurling final.
It would be unfair to fix both county finals for the one weekend then, so it looks like the football replay may be put off for the following weekend.
But that’s only shelving the problem for another day. That’s because the winners of the Garden County’s senior football title are scheduled to take on Offaly champions Rhode in the Leinster championship that Sunday, October 27.
Murley the hero as Pat’s force replay against Rathnew in championship final https://t.co/IbRVdL9jCm
— St Patricks GAA Wick (@StPatsGAAWick) October 15, 2018
So it looks like some of the Wicklow club players will have to play two of the biggest games of their lives within a 24 hour period.
Unless the county board are able to work some magic with the higher-ups in Leinster, this would be an unwanted and an unhelpful situation, and it all comes back to the question – why wasn’t extra-time played on Sunday, especially when the sun was shining all day on Joule Park in Aughrim – not a regular occurrence in October.
But this isn’t the first time something like this has happened in Wicklow. Last year, the Éire Óg senior hurlers and footballers were forced to play senior championship games one day after another. After losing both games, the players who were in with the county panel opted to drop themselves off in protest.
Wicklow GAA needs to sort this one out.
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